The Reunion sets a new record by enticing 150,000 Finns in seven days
- The first Finnish film to sell 150,000 tickets within a week is Taneli Mustonen’s remake of a 2011 Danish comedy
The Reunion [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which tells the story of a group of old classmates who meet again 20 years after they left school – and is Finnish director Taneli Mustonen’s remake of the 2011 Danish comedy The Reunion [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – has broken local box-office records in Finland.
Produced by Jesse Fryckman and Oskari Huttu, for Solar Films – veteran producer Markus Selin’s company – Mustonen’s second feature (after 2012’s Ella and Friends [+see also:
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film profile]) had on Tuesday (3 March) performed better at the cinemas than any other local release.
“The Reunion is really the first Nordic remake to travel within Scandinavia – after five days, it had had the biggest opening ever of a local title, and it was the first Finnish film to sell more than 150,000 tickets in seven days,” said Katarina Nyman, general manager – distribution at Nordisk Film Finland.
Adapted by Mustonen, the original Danish screenplay by Claudia Boderke and Lars Mering follows three middle-aged former classmates about to attend the reunion of their class of 1995. As the day approaches, they face up to the problems and changes that the years have brought upon their lives – and decide to relax a little beforehand.
The Finnish remake stars Aku Hirviniemi,who most recently appeared in Finnish director Johanna Vuoksenmaa’s local blockbuster 21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and is a regular on the Comedy Combat TV show; Sami Hedberg, a popular stand-up comedian in his first film role as an actor; and Jaajo Linnonmaa, who has been Radio Host of the Year four times.
The original The Reunion, the second feature by Danish director Niels Nørløv Hansen, was released in Denmark in October 2011, going on to take 518,000 admissions. The success encouraged the production company – Denmark’s Nordisk Film – to launch a sequel, Mikkel Serup’s The Reunion 2: The Funeral [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which sold 605,000 tickets last year.
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